Following the example of the « Culture Tech Days » and the « Museum Meet-up 2.0 » which took place in 2020 in Germany and Austria respectively, Bpifrance and Business France decided to set up the first edition of the « Creative Lab » mission.

In order to promote French talents across the Rhine, 7 young French tech companies were selected by a jury and were given the opportunity to meet with actors of the cultural world in Düsseldorf and Vienna. “The Creative Lab Europe program is a real opportunity for our innovative companies to meet the challenges of the cultural sector’s digitalization in Germany and Austria” said Evelyne Scuto-Gaillard, Director of Development and Innovation Support at Bpifrance.

These meetings gave the entrepreneurs the opportunity to meet and exchange with members of the Austrian and German cultural scenes to better understand their needs and to create an efficient network through round table and networking events.

Culture is dynamic sector in Austria and in Germany

The cultural sectors represent a particularly large market in Germany, with €91 billion in sales in 2018, representing a growth of 6.7% between 2013 and 2018. As such, many governmental support measures are implemented to sustain the sector, following the example of Austria. In this context, the pandemic has acted as a gas pedal towards the digital transition of the cultural professions “both to offer the public a complete and interactive experience and to support and optimize the work of their staff” explains Eric Morand, Director of Tech & Services at Business France. This creates a huge window of opportunity for creative and innovative companies, that the selected French companies for this mission will discover.